San Diego has acres and acres of coastline. With breathtaking views and free public beaches choosing the "best beaches" is very subjective. In most cases accessing San Diego's coastline also requires a car rental unless you are staying very close to the beach. San Diego's International airport is located minutes from downtown; consider an International Air Charter. Here are five on my favorite beaches and each is dramatically different in … [Read more...]
Exhausted in South Africa
We arrived in South Africa with no plans. A quick scan of the airport revealed a number of name brand car rental companies - so we bee-lined for the only Internet Cafe we could find and used one of the online car reservation companies. Within 40 minutes of making our reservation we had signed countless forms and were sitting in our almost brand new Nissan Sentra. This was the only "automatic" transmission vehicle we could find at the entire … [Read more...]
Esotouric, West Adams Neighborhood, Los Angeles
Esotouric offers a variety of tours in Los Angeles; their name is a twist of "esoteric" and all their tours have an element of this. We joined the founders, the husband wife team of Kim and Richard for their niche historic West Adam's "crime" tour which covers a part of Los Angeles most tourists will never visit - although this neighborhood is fairly close to Exposition Park and relatively close to downtown. As with other neighborhoods in Los … [Read more...]
Fun at Los Angeles Events
Rode in to town on the 5 on the inspirational wings of Don MaClean's American Pie blasting away on KRTH 101.1 FM. Needed some inspiration in the form of music as I certainly wasn't getting it from staring into the haze and smog that often hits the Los Angeles area this time of year. I was in town for only about a day and it was packed with events. I always like how whenever I spend any sort of time in Los Angeles events just seem to materialize. … [Read more...]
Madrid, Once Upon a Time
Maybe it was a bad omen that I'd memorized Cinderella before I could read. By winter 2004, I had to accept that my life was turning to ashes. Single, living alone in Manhattan, I found myself without steady income, and few, if any employment options. My seemingly endless supply of crazy ideas to otherwise help keep me clothed and sheltered had long gone up in smoke. Factor in frequent, lengthy illnesses and my lifelong propensity for being … [Read more...]
San Juan Sailor
Cold rain and a fierce north wind whipped my face. I tightened my hood, careful to keep one hand on the Zodiac's helm. I knew almost nothing about sailing, but here I was, at the wheel of a 127-foot vintage wooden schooner in a driving rainstorm, all four sails catching the wind. Twenty-three wannnabe sailors and I had been told this would be a working trip, but I never thought I'd actually be piloting the ship, especially on a day like this. … [Read more...]
More fun in Los Angeles
There's always, always something to do in Los Angeles and this past weekend was no different. Stumbled into a place to stay at the last minute - turned out to be where George Clooney used to live and Quentin Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction. Nice! Location was quintessential West Hollywood - minutes from the "strip". Hit the LACOT Travel Tweetup at the Xbar at the Hyatt in Century City. Good to reconnect with other LA area based travelers … [Read more...]
LA Gang Tours
LA Gang Tours offers tours into the heart of the Los Angeles gangland territory - places you normally wouldn't think to visit: Skid Row, South Central & Watts and Compton. This unique organization is not glorifying gang violence and activities rather they are humanizing it, raising awareness, and money to work with kids before they get sucked into this "culture' as well as other anti-gang preventative measures. The organization was founded by … [Read more...]
Another fantastic trip to LA and the OC!
One of the highlights of this latest trip was re-visiting Universal Studios (and experiencing lighter than normal traffic on the infamous freeways). One new attraction to me was the Ifly experience located in the "citywalk" which leads to the main entrance. This is a "vertical wind tunnel" which for $40 and 2 mins of your time (after waiting in line and undergoing a short instruction session) you can "fly"! Put on a flight suit, goggles and … [Read more...]
Ventura’s The Cliff House Inn: Close to LA but Worlds Away
We heard the surf pounding the rocks in front of us, though we couldn't see the waves in the inky blackness. Far out on the water's surface a flame flickered and glowered, illuminating the edges of a wooden pier. Festive white lights ran up and around the palm trees next to our table, and I read the menu by the dim light of the candle. It was too beautiful not to sit outside, though my dress-up skirt and cute jacket were obscured by layers of … [Read more...]
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